On Wednesday, 16 players were granted a fifth collegiate season due to a ruling in Louisiana court.
Some are familiar to LSU and the new coaching staff. Others may make sense when analyzing the current roster. In this everchanging landscape of college sports, Lane Kiffin has said on many occasions that “we look at everything”.
Now, “everything” includes players cut from NFL rosters on Sept. 1. Keep in mind, if any of these players make their NFL rosters, they’ll obviously remain with the franchises. The TRO allows a parachute back into football and the opportunity to try the NFL next summer.
JACK PYBURN, EDGE, LSU
Pyburn played a season at LSU after three at Florida. He enjoyed his best collegiate season as a senior in Baton Rouge, making 52 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and tallying two sacks. Those two sacks mirror his output in an NFL preseason game for Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Pyburn knows Blake Baker’s defense and could provide depth on the defensive end where LSU has lost Gabriel Reliford for the season and is without Damien Shanklin.
DAE’QUAN WRIGHT, TE, OLE MISS
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound former Rebel tight end was a second team All-SEC pick of the coaches a season ago. He made 39 catches for 635 yards and five scores in Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr.’s offense which he could pick up seamlessly in September.
LSU has an elite pass catcher in Trey’Dez Green but is without a proven second option. Zach Grace played sparingly at Oregon. Malachi Thomas did not start for Pittsburgh last season, and the other two options are freshmen. Wright would make a lot of sense.
ZXAVIEN HARRIS, DT, OLE MISS
You can’t miss Harris. He’s 6-foot-8 and 330 pounds. He also started all 15 games for Ole Miss a season ago and made 58 tackles. The more impressive statistics are nine tackles for loss, three sacks and six career blocked kicks.
Ole Miss DT Zxavian Harris has officially signed with The New Orleans Saints
NOLA gets a 6'7" 330 pound MONSTER as a UDFA 💪pic.twitter.com/4kxtAB16CZ
— Sidelines – Ole Miss (@SSN_OleMiss) May 1, 2026
LSU is likely to start a pair of freshmen at defensive tackle in the opener. A fifth-year option that made that many plays a season ago would be a perfect fit.
ANTHONY HANKERSON, RB, OREGON STATE
Hankerson played his college ball in the Pacific Northwest and is currently with the Seahawks. He’s a Florida native who also played at Colorado in 2022 and 2023.
The 5-foot-8 back ran for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior which backed up a 1,082 yard-15 touchdown season in 2024. He’s 10th all time in rushing at Oregon State.
If Kevin Smith is looking for another option, Hankerson makes sense.
TJ HARDEN, RB, SMU
Harden would be a more physical option than Hankerson and might be a better fit. He’s 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds. That’s a can of biscuits more than Dilin Jones who is currently the biggest back on the Tiger roster.
Every TJ Harden touchdown from 2025 so far pic.twitter.com/3WrBllyLKo
— SMU Football (@SMUFB) September 17, 2025
The former UCLA Bruin and SMU Mustang ran for 787 yards last season and scored 10 touchdowns. He scored the game-winning touchdown against Miami who went on to the College Football Playoff Championship game.
Incidentally, Harden had seven carries for UCLA in the game at LSU in 2024. If LSU wants another bigger body in the running backs room, this could be it.
